Electronic consent demonstrates potential to overcome 'key barrier' in stroke trial recruitment
NeuroNews highlights UC, University of Minnesota-led study
NeuroNews highlighted research led by the University of Cincinnati's Iris Davis and the University of Minnesota's Christopher Streib that revealed the potential advantages associated with electronic informed consent in acute ischemic stroke studies, including increased enrollment rates and improved adherence to consent documentation. The findings were recently published in the journal Stroke.
“EConsent […] was associated with higher individual site enrolment, higher remote consent rates, and improved consent documentation adherence, over paper consent,” the study authors wrote. “Our study outlines the potential advantages of eConsent adoption in future acute ischemic stroke clinical trials and stroke research networks.”
The study reviewed the use of eConsent in the Phase 3 MOST trial, finding 33.7% of the total trial cohort were enrolled using eConsent and 56.1% of trial sites used eConsent at least once. Sites that used eConsent enrolled a higher number of study participants compared to sites that did not.
“Today, electronic approaches commonly replace conventional methods of paper documentation in health care, and in clinical research, to better manage medical data maintenance and access," Davis, UC clinical research manager and NIH StrokeNet administrative codirector, told NeuroNews. "EConsent provides a contemporary solution to documenting informed consent in clinical trials for patients, researchers and health care systems...A shift towards using eConsent over paper consent could improve the efficiency of stroke trials by providing more patients the opportunity to participate, and by decreasing the regulatory reporting burden on research teams.”
Featured photo at top of illustration of brain with stroke symptoms. Photo/PeterSchreiber.media/iStock.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.